Cause and effect writing structures
Writing about Cause and Effect
When you are writing critically, you need to give reasons and explanations for any claims you make.
The reason for something happening is the cause and what happened is the effect.
The composition of the workforce is becoming more diverse (is the cause).
Businesses are having to respond to changes (is the effect).
Cohesive devices (linking words and phrases)
Use cohesive devices to connect ’cause and effect’ statements. See the examples below.
because
so
as
Since
Consequently
Therefore
For this reason
Because of this
As a result
Ways of writing about cause and effect
For example, you could make two sentences using ‘as a consequence’.
The composition of the workforce is becoming more diverse. As a consequence businesses are having to make adjustments to respond to these changes.
Another way is using a connecting or linking word or phrase to make one sentence.
The composition of the workforce is becoming more diverse which means that businesses are having to make adjustments to respond to these changes.
Try reversing the order and structure so that the effect comes first.
Example:
Businesses are having to make adjustments as the workforce is becoming more diverse.
Useful cause and effect structures and cohesive devices/linking words
because
As
Because
Since
Therefore,
Thus,
Consequently,
Because of this,
For this reason,
As a result,
Cause and effect activity
The paragraph below contains two cause and effect structures or statements and linking words/phrases.
Original paragraph
The team’s performance was affected by the negativity of their relationships. Consequently, senior management decided to run a workshop to encourage positive interaction among the team members. As a result team cohesion increased dramatically.
